Richard Alston (politician)

Richard Alston
President of the Liberal Party of Australia
In office
25 June 2014 – 24 June 2017
LeaderTony Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded byAlan Stockdale
Succeeded byNick Greiner
Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
In office
February 2005 – September 2008
Nominated byJohn Howard
Preceded byMichael L'Estrange
Succeeded byJohn Dauth
Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
In office
11 March 1996 – 7 October 2003
Prime MinisterJohn Howard
Preceded byMichael Lee
Succeeded byDaryl Williams
Senator for Victoria
In office
7 May 1986 – 10 February 2004
Preceded byAlan Missen
Succeeded byMitch Fifield
Personal details
Born
Richard Kenneth Robert Alston

(1941-12-19) 19 December 1941 (age 82)
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Political partyLiberal
RelationsPhilip Alston (brother)
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Monash University
OccupationBarrister

Richard Kenneth Robert Alston AO (born 19 December 1941) is an Australian businessman, former politician and former barrister. He served as a Senator for Victoria from 1986 to 2004, representing the Liberal Party. During the Howard government he held ministerial office as Minister for Communications and the Arts (1996–1997), Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts (1997–1998), and Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (1998–2003). He is simultaneously Australia's longest serving Communications minister and Arts minister.

In his ministerial capacity he led more than a dozen highly successful telecommunications and IT trade missions around the world as well as representing Australia at APEC Telecommunications Ministerial Conferences in Singapore, Cancun, Shanghai and the Gold Coast (chaired). In 1999 he received an Award for Outstanding Contribution to the IT industry from the Asia-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation. In 2002 he was voted Best Asian Communications Minister and in 2003 he received an Outstanding Service Award from the Australian Venture Capital Association.

He served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (2005–2008) where he was a Commissioner of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for three years. In 2007 he was the Australian Prime Minister's Special Envoy and Leader of the Australian delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Uganda. From 2014 to 2017 he was Federal President of the Liberal Party and a member of the Party's Federal Executive for 18 years.